My fabia 1.9 tdi is leaking oil and is in the garage today. They’ve tried replacing the gasket (not sure which one, not head gasket though) and think there may be a crack in the cam cover. I don’t even know what that is.

Assuming I trust the garage, what’s a reasonable cost to source and fit one of these?

Abot £20 for a cam cover gasket

Maybe an hours labour – £30 for an independent, £60 for a main dealer

Great, thanks.

They ‘think’ there might be a crack in the cam cover? I’d go to a different garage. It’s either cracked or not surely? New one wouldn’t be cheap (would a dealer even stock one), I’d be tempted to get one from a breakers in the unlikely event it is cracked.

N.B. There might be some peculiarity to that particular cam cover that makes it crack prone in a very hard to spot area?

They should have checked the cover when replacing the gasket. Cover won’t be cheap, either cast or molded large-ish part that rarely goes wrong.

i certainly wouldn’t be buying a new cam cover as it will cost a bomb. I’d get one from a breakers or ebay.

The cam cover is basically the top of the engine. Under the plastic cover that you normally see when you open the bonnet there is a cover that bolts to the head of the engine and encloses the cam-shaft(s and valves etc.

It’s not normally a stressed part so a crack seems far fetched. Unless someone overtightened it when doing the gasket or stepped on it when it was off the car….

Has anyone else touched the car that could have tightened up the bolts if it was weeping from the gasket and caused the problem? Rocker cover gaskets do go as they perish and are not firmly clamped down. People then overtighten them trying to stop the leak instead of buying a new one.